This watchdog blog, by journalist Norman Oder, offers analysis, commentary, and reportage about the $4.9 billion project to build the Barclays Center arena and 16 high-rise buildings at a crucial site in Brooklyn. Dubbed Atlantic Yards by developer Forest City Ratner in 2003, it was rebranded Pacific Park Brooklyn in 2014 after the Chinese government-owned Greenland Group bought a 70% stake in 15 towers. New York State still calls it Atlantic Yards. Note: archive at right.

Pacific branch library building adjacent to Atlantic Yards site too expensive to repair, destined to close; will it be demolished?

The Pacific branch of the Brooklyn Public Library, at Fourth Avenue and Pacific Street just below the western plot (Site 5, home of P.C. Richard and Modell's) of the Atlantic Yards footprint, may be doomed.

Brooklyn Public Library officials are taking the controversial step of selling off two dilapidated branches.
The two libraries on the block, the Brooklyn Heights and Pacific branch in Boerum Hill, are in need of crippling repair costs the system can’t afford, a BPL official said.
The Brooklyn Heights branch on Cadman Plaza West would be sold to a developer as early as next year, keeping a smaller version of the library on the ground floor and building apartments over the existing complex.
Plans also call for the building that houses the Pacific branch on Fourth Ave. to be sold,
with the library moving to a planned building in the newly-created Brooklyn Cutlural District.
The Pacific branch would remain open until the new building was completed in 2016, said Nachowitz.

What's not clear is what will happen to the Pacific branch, a historic building--the first Carnegie library to open in Brooklyn, in 1904--but not a landmarked one. It need not be preserved. So it could be demolished for a larger building that encompasses not just its footprint but the low-slung city building next door.

Or, should there be sufficient pressure, the building--or at least a part of it--could be preserved as part of a larger development. Otherwise, one significant link to the past would be erased. Plans must be approved by City Council.

I queried the library yesterday about plans for the building, but didn't hear back.

A developer has the green-light to put up a skyscraper on a marquee spot right next to the Williamsburgh Savings Bank — but the builder wants to fill the tower with nearly double the permissible amount of housing.
Two Trees Management Co. needs the city to sign off on its plan to put 300 apartments inside the proposed 32-story tower, dedicating about 86 percent of floor space to residences when current zoning only allows a max of about 53 percent.
The development company claims putting about 300,000 square feet of apartments above 50,000 square feet of commercial space and cultural offerings — including three Brooklyn Academy of Music theaters, a new home for the Pacific Branch of the Brooklyn Public Library, and a rehearsal space managed by 651 Arts — is a far better proposal than the tallest possible structure it could build without a zoning change, which would set aside about 152,000 square feet for arts and commercial tenants and 171,000 square feet for housing.

It is not uncommon, in cities around the country, to put new libraries in mixed-used buildings, as is planned near BAM and also in Brooklyn Heights. It's seen as a way of harnessing the private market--which gets the benefit of added density on sites once occupied by lower-rise buildings--not unlike the way other public benefits, such as affordable housing, are achieved.

At the same time, without public vigilance, developers can get the upper hand, as Michael D.D. White warns in a Noticing New York post.

The Pacific Branch was the first Carnegie Branch to open to the public in Brooklyn, on October 8th, 1904. Pacific's architect, Raymond Almirall, also designed the architecturally notable Eastern Parkway and Park Slope branches for the Brooklyn Public Library system. The New York Tribune praised the new branch for its classical and dignified design. Describing the second-floor children's room, the Tribune's writer went on to write that Pacific is the most completely equipped room for children in the country, with tables and chairs built especially for children. Other features included a rotunda with interior semi-circular iron balcony, fine wood work on the banisters, doors, doorways and arches, a tiled fireplace and wood panelling.
Problems soon beset the fine new library. In 1914 construction of the BMT subway system caused structural damage, and in 1917 all of the children's books and one third of the adult books were ruined by the water used to control a fire. In the 1930s W.P.A. workers created a large second-floor mural which has unfortunately not survived. After another fire in 1973, the building was slated for demolition, but community activists and the Brooklyn Public Library worked together to save it from the wrecker's ball.
After extensive renovation, the Pacific Branch reopened to the public in 1975. For almost 100 years the Pacific Branch has served a changing community. The branch, which boasts an active Friend's group, looks forward to serving the people of this busy crossroads neighborhood for generations to come through its wide range of information and recreational resources, its video collection and its innovative events and programs.

From the Atlantic Yards environmental review

From Chapter 7, Cultural Resources, of the November 2006 Final Environmental Impact Statement

Brooklyn Public Library, Pacific Branch (S/NR-eligible, NYCL-eligible). The Pacific Branch of the Brooklyn Public Library is located at the southeast corner of 4th Avenue and Pacific Street across from the project site (see No. 19 of Figure 7-2 and Figure 7-16). It was the first Carnegie Library to open in Brooklyn. Built in 1904, it was designed by Raymond F. Almirall (1869-1939), a Brooklyn-born architect who also designed the library at Grand Army Plaza in Brooklyn and the Emigrant Industrial Savings Bank on Chambers Street in Manhattan. The Pacific Branch library is an imposing red brick structure. Designed in the Beaux Arts style, it is detailed with robust limestone ornaments, including a cornice with torcheres and swags, and large consoles over the first floor.
...The area’s prosperity in the early part of the 20th century is evidenced by the construction of the BPL, Pacific Branch, in 1904 at 25 4th Avenue, and the new BAM at 30 Lafayette Avenue in 1908. The opening of the Manhattan Bridge in 1909 provided a direct connection to Flatbush Avenue, which made it one of the city’s busiest thoroughfares for the first half of the 20th century. New industries opened in the area surrounding the LIRR rail yard.

The only community facility that would experience a significant adverse impact is the Pacific Branch of the Brooklyn Public Library, which would experience significant adverse impacts from noise [at least if the project had been built as announced] between 2007 and 2009.
The analysis shows the potential for significant adverse noise impacts at the Pacific Street Branch of the Brooklyn Public Library. Measurements of internal/external noise levels at the library undertaken in October 2006 showed that the library’s windows/walls provide approximately 20 dBA of attenuation. In addition, the library is already air conditioned. Therefore, during the 1st three years of construction—2007, 2008, and 2009—interior L10 noise levels within the library building during periods of peak construction would be in the range of approximately 50 to mid-50 dBA. This would be above the 45-50 dBA L10 noise level range that would be desirable for this type of land use. Consequently, as noted in the DEIS, construction of the proposed project would result in a significant adverse impact at this library. This impact would be of limited duration and magnitude. Since the issuance of the DEIS, noise mitigation measures that would include additional acoustic treatment for the library windows on the Pacific Street side were identified. With this measure, the significant adverse construction noise impact on the Pacific Branch of the Brooklyn Public Library would be mitigated.

It is a gorgeous building, but is in horrific shape in the interior. Several years ago emergency roof work was done to avoid a collapse, but all administrative departments were moved to other locations permanently. I'm pretty sure the upstairs meeting room is still off-limits due to structural unsoundness. I don't know if internal renovations are possible but they certainly wouldn't be affordable. The Park Slope branch was renovated (took over 3 years and was very expensive), but that branch was always heavily used and beloved by its community. The Pacific branch never was that beloved. It sits at the crossroads of major transit hubs of course, but doesn't feel like a part of the neighborhood. Most serious library users would just hop the B41 to Central - barely a 10 minute ride.

While that's part of the lawsuit, more prominent are claims of racial discrimination and retaliation, with black employees claiming repeated abuse by white supervisors, preferential treatment toward Hispanic colleagues, and retaliation in response to complaints.

Two individual supervisors, for example, are charged with referring to black employees as “black motherfucker,” “dumb black bitch,” “black monkey,” “piece of shit” and “nigger.”

Two have referred to an employee blind in one eye as “cyclops,” and “the one-eyed guy,” and an employee with a nose disorder as “the nose guy.”

There's been no official response yet though arena spokesman Barry Baum told the Daily News they, but take “allegations of this kind very seriously” and have "a zero tolerance policy for…

To supporters of Forest City Ratner's Atlantic Yards project, it's a long-awaited plan for long-overlooked land. "The Atlantic Yards area has been available for any developer in America for over 100 years,” declared Borough President Marty Markowitz at a 5/26/05 City Council hearing.

Charles Gargano, chairman of the Empire State Development Corporation, mused on 11/15/05 to WNYC's Brian Lehrer, “Isn’t it interesting that these railyards have sat for decades and decades and decades, and no one has done a thing about them.” Forest City Ratner spokesman Joe DePlasco, in a 12/19/04 New York Times article ("In a War of Words, One Has the Power to Wound") described the railyards as "an empty scar dividing the community."

But why exactly has the Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s Vanderbilt Yard never been developed? Do public officials have some responsibility?

At right is a photo of a poster spotted in Hasidic Williamsburg right. Clearly there's an event scheduled at the Barclays Center aimed at the Haredi Jewish community (strict Orthodox Jews who reject secular culture), but the lack of English text makes it cryptic.

The website Matzav.com explains, Protest Against Israeli Draft of Bnei Yeshiva Rescheduled for Barclays Center:
A large asifa to protest the drafting of bnei yeshiva in Eretz Yisroel into the Israeli army that had been set to take place this month will instead be held on Sunday, 17 Sivan/June 11, at the Barclays Center in Downtown Brooklyn, NY.
So attendees at a big gathering will protest an apparent change of policy that will make it much more difficult for traditional Orthodox Jewish students--both Hasidic (who follow a rebbe) and non-Hasidic (who don't)--to get deferments from the draft. Comments on the Yeshiva World website explain some of the debate.

First mentioned in April, the Atlantic Yards project in Atlanta is moving ahead--and has the potential to nudge Atlantic Yards in Brooklyn further down in Google searches.

According to a 5/30/17 press release, Hines and Invesco Real Estate Announce T3 West Midtown and Atlantic Yards:
Hines, the international real estate firm, and Invesco Real Estate, a global real estate investment manager, today announced a joint venture on behalf of one of Invesco Real Estate’s institutional clients to develop two progressive office projects in Atlanta totalling 700,000 square feet. T3 West Midtown will be a 200,000-square-foot heavy timber office development and Atlantic Yards will consist of 500,000 square feet of progressive office space in two buildings. Both projects are located on sites within Atlantic Station in the flourishing Midtown submarket.
Hines will work with Hartshorne Plunkard Architecture (HPA) as the design architect for both T3 West Midtown and Atlantic Yards. DLR Group will be t…

Pacific Park Brooklyn is seriously delayed, Forest City Realty Trust said yesterday in a news release, which further acknowledged that the project has caused a $300 million impairment, or write-down of the asset, as the expected revenues no longer exceed the carrying cost.

The Cleveland-based developer, parent of Brooklyn-based Forest City Ratner, which is a 30% investor in Pacific Park along with 70% partner/overseer Greenland USA, blamed the "significant impairment" on an oversupply of market-rate apartments, the uncertain fate of the 421-a tax break, and a continued increase in construction costs.

While the delay essentially confirms the obvious, given that two major buildings have not launched despite plans to do so, it raises significant questions about the future of the project, including:if market-rate construction is delayed, will the affordable h…

Real Estate Weekly, reporting on trends in Chinese investment in New York City, on 11/18/15 quoted Jim Costello, a senior vice president at research firm Real Capital Analytics:
“They’re typically building high-end condos, build it and sell it. Capital return is in a few years. That’s something that is ingrained in the companies that have been coming here because that’s how they’ve grown in the last 35 years. It’s always been a development game for them. So they’re just repeating their business model here,” he said.
When I read that last November, I didn't think it necessarily applied to Atlantic Yards/Pacific Park, now 70% owned (outside of the Barclays Center and B2 modular apartment tower), by the Greenland Group, owned significantly by the Shanghai government.
A majority of the buildings will be rentals, some 100% market, some 100% affordable, and several--the last several built--are supposed to be 50% market/50% subsidized. (See tentative timetable below.)Selling development …

As I've written, Mayor Bill de Blasio sure knows how to steer and spin coverage of his affordable housing initiatives.

Indeed, his latest announcement, claiming significant progress, came with a pre-press release op-ed in the New York Daily News and then a friendly photo-op press conference with an understandably grateful--and very lucky--winner of an affordable housing lottery.

To me, though, the most significant quote came from Deputy Mayor Alicia Glen, who, as the Wall Street Journal reported:
said public housing had been “starved” of federal support for years now, leaving the city with fewer ways of creating affordable housing. “Are we relying too heavily on the private sector?” she said. “There is no alternative.”
Though Glen was using what she surely sees as a common-sense phrase, it recalls the slogan of a politician with whom I doubt de Blasio identifies: former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, a Conservative who believed in free markets.